Preliminary autopsy: Toddlers drowned
 |  Reported missing Saturday, Nicole and Jonah Payne were found in a pond near their home Monday. |
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 Two toddlers' bodies are found in a pond near their Georgia home.
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WARRENTON, Georgia (CNN) -- Two toddlers whose bodies were found in an algae-covered sanitation pond drowned, according to preliminary autopsy results, a rural Georgia county official said Tuesday.
Warren County Coroner Paul Lowe noted that although the investigation continues, there is no evidence foul play was involved.
"We'll be looking at some other avenues," Lowe said. "We're still waiting to put some things together with the [Georgia Bureau of Investigation]."
The children's mother, Lottie Kain, reported them missing from their Warrenton home about 6:15 p.m. Saturday. She told police she briefly went into a bathroom and came out to find them gone.
Police said daughter Nicole had figured out how to unlock the front door of the family home, and that the two children had gotten out earlier Saturday before being recovered.
Police followed routine procedures in administering polygraph tests to the parents and investigating the lone registered sex offender in the small town and 13 more in Warren County.
Authorities said they have ruled out the involvement of the sex offenders in the children's disappearances and deaths.
Lowe would not say how long authorities believe the children had been dead before their bodies were found just a few hundred yards from home.
"I just spoke with the family," he said. "The family is drawing some comfort from the fact of knowing what actually happened and seem to be doing well at this point."
A path leads directly to the pond from the children's home. Fencing surrounds the water, and police are investigating whether the two youngsters got through the meshing.
"We have surveyed the entire area to see if there might be any evidence to indicate that they maybe slipped in or accidentally [fell] in," said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.
The toddlers' bodies were taken to a Georgia state crime lab in Augusta, about 40 miles east of Warrenton, for autopsies.
Search teams of law enforcement officers and volunteers worked all night Saturday and most of Sunday before officials halted efforts that night, citing fatigue.
When the search resumed Monday, a searcher noticed "kind of a bump in that green bacteria or algae on the surface of that sanitation pond," said Bankhead. The bump turned out to be Nicole's corpse.
Jonah's remains turned up a few feet away, he said.
Dennis Payne identified his children's bodies in a photograph, said Bankhead. He then thanked investigators and "all the people that helped us and been there for us."
"They did a wonderful job," he said. "...You can't see any better people."
CNN's Tony Harris contributed to this report.
